Drag racing is a popular sport involving the operation of motorized vehicles, typically motorcycles and racecars, at very high speeds over a relatively short straight distance. One type of drag racing car is known as a funny car, and this type of car easily exceeds 300 mph over a quarter mile track. Given the great speeds of these racecars over a relatively short distance, parachutes are used to help slow the cars down safely. After the race is over, the parachute must be collected and repacked for the next race.
Packing a drag racing parachute is a tedious chore. The parachute is folded then stowed into a parachute bag that has been premounted on the racecar, with the opening of the bag generally facing sideways or horizontally. The parachute bag is a large sack with a bottom plate, and four generally triangular flaps on top that when folded so as to cover the top of the bag opening, a vertice from each flap crosses over the center of the bag opening. In turn, each of these vertices is formed with a grommet, and all four grommets align when the flaps are folded over the top of the bag. The top flap features a permanently attached loop of cord. After the folded parachute is inserted into the parachute bag, this top flap is first folded over the open top of the parachute bag, followed by the other three flaps. The loop is pulled through all the grommets, and a retractable end of a release cable is inserted into the loop. Either before or after packing the parachute into the parachute bag, a parachute launcher is also packed inside the bag prior to closing the flaps and securing with the release cable. After the parachute and parachute launcher are packed, the flaps of the bag secured, and the retractable end of the release cable inserted into the loop, the parachute is ready for use.
There are currently three common types of parachute launchers used: spring launchers, air launchers, and pilot chute launchers. All three launchers work in a similar fashion: the driver engages a parachute release cable, which releases the packed parachute from its parachute bag. Spring and air launchers both push the parachute out of the parachute bag and away from the vehicle, and are more convenient for one-person use but they have two serious drawbacks: (1) they are much more expensive compared to the popular pilot chute launcher without significant functional improvement; and (2) they are bulky when mounted. The pilot chute launcher works differently: the pilot chute launcher is permanently tethered to the parachute and is packed last into the parachute bag, and when the release cable is pulled by the racecar driver, the pilot chute launcher springs out of the bag first, pulling the tethered parachute with it. The pilot chute launcher is more economical than the spring and air launchers, but has one main drawback: it is awkward to pack as the pilot chute launcher is essentially a large, funnel-shaped spring attached to and placed over a parachute packed into a parachute bag, especially when the parachute bag is mounted to the racecar as the bag opening generally faces sideways or horizontally away from the racecar. The bulky spring design thus requires two people to pack the parachute bag: one person manually compresses the spring evenly against the packed parachute, while the other person secures the parachute bag flaps.
What is needed is an apparatus that evenly compresses the pilot chute launcher while packing a parachute, and a method of packing a parachute that allows a single person to quickly and easily pack the parachute along with the pilot chute launcher into a parachute bag.